Star Alliance member Air India today resumed its route from New Delhi to Copenhagen.
This follows the resumption of services from the Indian capital to both Vienna and Milan in February.
Air India flight AI157 now operates three times a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from Delhi, taking off at 1330 and arriving in Copenhagen at 1750 local time the same day.
The return AI158 departs Copenhagen at 1950 and arrives back in Delhi the following morning at 0740 offering plenty of onward connectivity on Air India’s domestic and regional network.
The only other Asia-Pacific based carriers currently offering direct flights to Copenhagen are Air China from Beijing, Singapore Airlines from Singapore, and Thai Airways from Bangkok.
Last month, Air India also resumed flights between Delhi and Milan’s Malpensa Airport, operating four times per week, and it also restarted Delhi-Vienna thrice-weekly.
The Milan and Vienna schedules look very similar to the Copenhagen timings: they depart India mid-day, get into Europe in the evenings and depart back a few hours later to arrive in Delhi early the next morning.
All three routes are operated by Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft featuring 18 seats across a 2-2-2 configuration in business class and 236 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration.
Air India had suspended flights to Copenhagen, Milan and Vienna in 2020 due to the pandemic.
With these service resumptions, Air India’s India-Europe capacity has now increased to more than 70 nonstop flights a week.
Air India is a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium.
The present management at Air India under chief executive officer Campbell Wilson, a former SIA Group executive, is driving the five-year transformation roadmap under the aegis of ‘Vihaan.AI’ to re-establish the flag carrier as a “world-class global airline with an Indian heart”.
In February, Air India confirmed US$80 billion in aircraft and engine orders including 250 firm orders for Airbus aircraft and 220 firm orders for Boeing aircraft, reflecting the increasing demand for air travel in India, which now has the third-biggest airline market in the world and is ranked as the fifth largest economy globally.
The first additional Airbus A320neo and larger A321neo aircraft are due for delivery to Air India in the coming months. These aircraft will be leased.
Also due in the short-term are six long-haul Airbus A350-900 aircraft that could not be delivered to their original operator, Russian carrier Aeroflot, owing to sanctions.
This initial batch of state-of-the-art A350 aircraft will feature the interiors originally selected by Aeroflot, including 28 seats in business and 24 seats in premium economy.
These new Air India aircraft will significantly elevate the passenger experience vis-à-vis the 787s currently deployed to Europe as they will feature much more private 1-2-1 full-enclosed seating in the front cabin.
